The Executive Director of Legal, Human Recourse and Compliance at Ecobank, Mr Morgan Asiedu, said at the opening ceremony, that shelter was the most important need after food and clothing, according to Maslow’s Theory of Needs.

However, societies are faced with challenges in acquiring this basic human need.

He said among the key challenges facing the housing sector were complexities in the land treasury systems, cumbersome land registration processes, poor infrastructural development, particularly in the country’s cities, and poor financing options with prohibitive interest rates.

These challenges, he explained, had a terrible effect on people, especially the working class, forcing them to live in unfavourable conditions in cities and other commercial towns.

“They are also faced with poor amenities in their sub-standard dwellings and have to travel long distances to and from homes to their workplaces each day. Notwithstanding the poor quality dwellings in the cities, these hardworking men and women have to agree with the perverse demands of their landlords,” he added.

Mr Asiedu said the number of housing units had to be increased to take care of the rapid growing population of Ghana and added that experts estimated Ghana’s population in 2020 at 32.2 million, with about 57 per cent of people expected to live in the urban communities.

The current housing deficit is estimated at 1.7 million units.

According to him, although the units are expected to rise to two million by 2018, experts are of the view that an additional 200,000 housing units have to be added every year for the next 10 years to bridge the gap.

Mr Asiedu said Jumia Home Ghana and Hacking Adulthood, in a recent online survey, revealed that 91 per cent of Ghanaians were not property owners. They observed that most people lived in rented houses or with their relations.

He, therefore, called on the private sector to help in providing accommodation for the nation’s working class since it should not only be the liability of the government alone.

“This is why we at Ecobank have taken it upon ourselves to create this platform that brings together real estate companies, value chain suppliers, potential home owners and other patrons of residential properties,” he added.

The platform will present participants with the opportunities and the various ways of owning homes through sound financial options provided by Ecobank.

He assured customers of the bank that long-term financial options, at very competitive interests rates, through a strong balance sheet size, were available to anyone who wished to sign up on the bank’s housing platform.

“The doors of the bank are open to address the needs of customers, propose various options available and the type of financial arrangements that will best suit the income levels of customers,” he said.